The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

Sunday closest to November 2

Proper 26
Year B
RCL

Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift
that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that
we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Ruth 1:1-18

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a
famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live
in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man
was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two
sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in
Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.
These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of
the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and
Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her
husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of
Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had
considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place
where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went
on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two
daughters-in-law, "Go back each of you to your mother's house. May the
LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of
your husband." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to
her, "No, we will return with you to your people." But Naomi said, "Turn
back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my
womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your
way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope
for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you
then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No,
my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the
hand of the LORD has turned against me." Then they wept aloud again. Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to
her gods; return after your sister-in-law." But Ruth said,

"Do not press me to leave you

or to turn back from following you!

Where you go, I will go;

Where you lodge, I will lodge;

your people shall be my people,

and your God my God.

Where you die, I will die--

there will I be buried.

May the LORD do thus and so to me,

and more as well,

if even death parts me from you!"

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more
to her.

Psalm 146 Page 803, BCP

Lauda, anima mea

1

Hallelujah!
Praise the LORD, O my soul! *
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

2

Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, *
for there is no help in them.

3

When they breathe their last, they return to earth, *
and in that day their thoughts perish.

4

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!*
whose hope is in the LORD their God;

5

Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *
who keeps his promise for ever;

6

Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *
and food to those who hunger.

7

The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; *
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

8

The LORD loves the righteous;
the LORD cares for the stranger; *
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Moses said: Now this is the commandment--the
statutes and the ordinances--that the LORD your God charged me to teach
you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so
that you and your children and your children's children, may fear the LORD
your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his
commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear
therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well
with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk
and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and
when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a
sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

Aleph: Beati immaculati

1

Happy are they whose way is blameless, *
who walk in the law of the LORD!

2

Happy are they who observe his decrees *
and seek him with all their hearts!

3

Who never do any wrong, *
but always walk in his ways.

4

You laid down your commandments, *
that we should fully keep them.

5

Oh, that my ways were made so direct *
that I might keep your statutes!

6

Then I should not be put to shame, *
when I regard all your commandments.

7

I will thank you with an unfeigned heart, *
when I have learned your righteous judgments.

8

I will keep your statutes; *
do not utterly forsake me.

Hebrews 9:11-14

When Christ came as a high priest of the good
things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made
with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into
the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own
blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and
bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who
have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the
living God!

Mark 12:28-34

One of the scribes came near and heard the
Saducees disputing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them
well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus
answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is
one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second
is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other
commandment greater than these." Then the scribe said to him, "You are
right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there
is no other'; and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as
oneself,'--this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You
are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him
any question.

Optional parts of the readings are set off
in square brackets.

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons
are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of
Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common
Prayer, 1979.